


you're perfect (to me)

by listentowhatiwrite



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-10
Updated: 2013-11-10
Packaged: 2018-01-01 01:45:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1038871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/listentowhatiwrite/pseuds/listentowhatiwrite
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Niall can’t get past his flaws and Harry is there to change his mind.</p>
            </blockquote>





	you're perfect (to me)

The blonde looks at himself in the mirror. Lou is behind him, fixing up his clothes, making sure his hair looks fine, but Niall isn’t paying attention.

He’s lost in his head now, his thoughts running wild as his heart clenches painfully in his chest.

His eyes rack over his body, over his baggy clothes, and he just doesn’t understand. How could anyone like this?

His hands start shaking slightly at his sides, and he’s close to breaking down now. Lou mutters something, but he couldn’t hear her. Niall guesses it was something along the lines of “Don’t worry darling. You’re gonna do great out there,” and he realizes she just doesn’t understand.

What she sees is different than what he does. She sees happiness, perfection, a life, and all Niall’s eyes see are flaws. They scream at him from the top of their lungs, screaming “Don’t forget about us!”, making sure he doesn’t forget their presence.

When Lou leaves the room, he’s alone, still standing in front of the mirror.

Niall opens his mouth, looking at the braces that cover over his teeth. _Flaw._

He sees the freckles spread gently across his face, the pink that never leaves his cheeks, the way he’s so lanky. All _flaws_.

A lone tear falls onto his flushed cheek and it’s still just another flaw, just another thing that he finds wrong with himself, no matter what anyone tells him. And Niall realizes that no one really understands at all.

He’s called to join the others moments later and Niall frantically rubs at his blurry eyes, just in case they betray him.

The show that night is fantastic. He looks happy, his dazzling smile only faltering once, and Niall almost forgets about how ugly he is. _Almost._

+

Harry notices the unhappiness tainting the other’s voice as he sings “Little Things”, and as they finish the last verse, he sits next to Niall and holds his hand tightly.

+

The crowd is too much for him right now. He doesn’t blame them, they don’t realize how much it hurts sometimes to be so boxed in, but his breathing is uneven and fast and he can’t see where he’s going.

This doesn’t happen to Niall often, it hasn’t really happened since X-Factor, but he’s already not feeling well and the sea of fans just doesn’t help his condition.

He feels faint all of a sudden and he stumbles slightly. The screaming around him makes it increasingly hard to breathe.

Two arms - they’re strong and warm and just so comforting - and he knows who is behind him now.

The space around him isn’t suffocating anymore, and he feels happy and okay.

Harry smiles, the curl of his lips work the muscles in his face and he can feel it with Harry’s cheek pressed against the side of his head, and Niall can’t help but smile too.

+

"Haz, you ever feel like you’re not good enough?"

They’re sitting in their shared hotel room, just enjoying each other’s company, talking and sharing stories, and it’s all so normal until it’s not.

The question is sudden, propelled into the air before either even realize it’s been said.

Niall grows flustered and looks away from Harry then, the extending silence making his question seem alien.

Harry seems unfazed by it when he answers a moment later. “Yeah, I have. Remember when I decided to look up all of the shit being said about me?”

He remembers well. It was disgusting, hearing that about one of his best mates, and it just didn’t make sense. Who could hate _Harry_?

Niall nods then, a solemn look on his face.

"You feeling that way now?" Harry asks slowly, as if he was treading light ground, and he was. The blonde’s expression fell considerably as he mentioned it, and his face looked so pained. Harry continued. "You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to."

"No I want to. Yer my best mate, Harry. I want to tell you," he interrupts the curly haired boy next to him, and does just that.

He explains how he sees himself, how he’s never quite sure about himself even if he looks it, how hard it is for him to look happy sometimes even if he is living the dream.

And Harry listens, as he always does. Niall doesn’t see it, never sees it, the way Harry looks at him like he holds the world in the palm of his hand, like every word he says is scripture that should be written down and never forgotten.

When he finishes, he slumps in his chair, just waiting for the judgment, waiting for the ridicule or the laugh, but it never comes.

Niall looks up then, and the expression he sees is not what he expects. Harry’s face is overall confused, his eyebrows raised in shock and he’s biting his lip, like he’s thinking hard about something. Niall meets his eyes, baby blues meeting crisp, leafy greens and there is something else in Harry’s beautiful features that he can’t make out.

Harry doesn’t say anything, can’t find the right words to tell him how he really is. _You’re wonderful_ , _you’re beautiful_ , _you’re you_ , they run through his mind multiple times, but he can’t find what he really wants to say.

"You’re perfect to me," he whispers, and Niall can barely hear it, but when he does, his cheeks dust pink and his heart skips a beat. It’s the exact thing he needs to hear.

"You don’t know how much you cheer up everyone," Harry continues, voice soft and slow. "You can walk into a room and the entire place lights up. Just you being you is the best thing we can ask for. That I can ask for.”

Harry’s hand is on his now and Niall looks back up at the other boy and when did they get so close?

"You’re so beautiful, every part of you. Your freckles," a hand comes up, brushing gently over his cheek. "Your hair," Harry’s other hand threads through his soft, blonde locks. "Your eyes."

A shock goes through the air when their gazes meet. Emerald against sapphire, staring deeply into each other, silently hoping that they never have to break their intense gaze.

"Every part of you is wonderful." and Harry moves forward slowly, hesitantly.

Their lips meet in a soft kiss, warm and tender to the touch. Their skin burns at the touch of their skin and it’s intoxicating, the way they hold each other as if this was their last time together.

It’s a press of skin against skin, gentle and slow and everything they both need in that moment. It’s all of the words left unsaid, all of the little things that they’ve kept inside releasing in one beautiful moment.

When Harry pulls away, all Niall wants to do is keep him there, scared to let him go, feeling that if he doesn’t hold onto him, Harry will shatter and break apart and Niall doesn’t know if he can deal with that.

Harry senses Niall’s fear and stops from moving any farther. He presses their warm foreheads together and their noses brush just slightly. Niall doesn’t know who lets out a chuckle first, but soon they fill the room with nothing but laughter and bliss.

+

Niall drifts to sleep easily that night with Harry pressed against him.

And the next morning, when they walk in hand and hand, no one says anything, but as they sit down with the others, Liam, Louis, and Zayn all shoot three identical grins in their direction.

They think they’ll be okay.

+

Niall never stops seeing the flaws. He’ll look in the mirror and see the freckles that dust his pale skin, the braces locked on his teeth, his all too skinny waist.

But it’s then that Harry always comes in and wraps his arms around the blonde boy, placing his chin on the other’s shoulder.

He leans in and whispers things like “ _you’re amazing_ " and " _I love you_ " because he finally can.

+

And Niall figures that if Harry loves all of his little flaws, then he can learn to love them too.

+

**Author's Note:**

> i just wanted to write a narry comfort fic dont hurt me  
> tumblr: listentowhatiwrite


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